- Soldiers Deployed To Quell Decades-old Crisis
From Ameachi Prosper (The New Diplomat’s Delta State Correspondent)
Residents are beginning to flee clash zones in Delta, where at least seven persons have been feared dead, with several properties set ablaze following a renewed age-long communal clash between lgbide and Emede both in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State.
The New Diplomat broke the news of the renewed decades-old debacle, Wednesday, as residents in the two communities engage in the free-for-all fight.
This is happening barely five months after a similar dispute between a community in Ozoro, headquarters of Isoko North LGA and a neighbouring community in Oleh, headquarters of Isoko South LGA led to the death of at least 12 persons.
It would be recalled that the fatal clash between Emede and Igbide is a product of communal dispute that first erupted around 1985 that left in its trail huge casualties.
A source told The New Diplomat that the protracted dispute between the two communities has defied several efforts towards resolving it, adding that there are also related pending cases in court.
A very reliable source that spoke with or correspondent, disclosed that a joint meeting was held between the two feuding communities only yesterday afternoon, adding a joint committee was even set up to find a lasting solution to the dispute and restore peace.
The source expressed shock that in spite of the peace meeting where representatives of both communities shook hands and exchange pleasantries, there was a midnight attack on Emede community leading to the death of at least two persons while several houses were set ablaze.
The source said: “Igbide people came to invade Emede yesterday (Tuesday). The land has been in dispute and the matter has been in court for many years.
“Last week, we met, resolving that the matter should be brought to the round table and we started discussing. Only yesterday (Tuesday) we set up a committee of Emede and Igbide which was supposed to have their inaugural meeting today (yesterday) only for them to start invading us.
“We(Emede) are a peace loving people; they (Igbide) took us unawares.”
Although, it was difficult to get the views of the President General of Igbide community, Dr. Patrick Obogho, a source from the community who pleaded anonymity, countered that it is not correct to say that one side was the aggressor.
He said: “What is important now is how to restore peace. It is not whether it is Igbide or Emede that is the issue now. What we need now is peace between both communities.
“There was a peace meeting yesterday (Tuesday), but one of the communities just came and blocked the road. They hired mercenaries and started attacking us.”
Speaking with newsmen on the matter, the executive chairman of Isoko South Local Government Area, Mr. Itiako Ikpokpo, expressed shock at the development, alluding to the peace meetings initiated by both communities.
He said: “That meeting took place for more than three hours and they all laughed and were happy, so I don’t know where this is coming from”.
As at the time of this report, our correspondent gathered that many residents of both communities were fleeing to neighboring communities to avert being caught in between what could be reprisal and counter-reprisal.
The Delta State Police Command through its PPRO, Onome Onovwakpoyeya, was quoted to have confirmed the death of two persons, even though sources in the community alleged that no fewer than seven locals have been killed in the fatal clashes.
“It is a communal crisis and we have been doing our best. As at this morning, two lifeless bodies have been seen”, the PPRO was quoted as saying.
The New Diplomat gathered the federal government has deployed army in the affected communities to stop further hostilities and restore peace to the area.
It would be recalled that when hostilities erupted for the first time in 1985, the ownership of fishing ponds said to be located at the boundary between the two communities was at the centre of the dispute.
